Goatboy - Monday, Monday, Monday

Goatboy here - I got my game in on Sunday versus my Co-Worker Neil with my counts as evil Grey Knights. It is a "non duplicated" list and it is all about using each piece to complete the puzzle of winning the game. It felt alright to play with and it wasn't too terrible - other then abusing two batches of Grenades. In fact one batch of grenades is going to get dropped out if I even play it.

The List - Rogue Inquisition Dickhead-a-rama.

HQ: Grand Master, Psychotroke Grenades
HQ: Coteaz
Elites: Purifiers X 10, Warding Stave X 1, Hammer X 1, Incinerators X 4, Psybolt, Halberds X 4
Elites: Tech Marine, Psychotroke Grenades, Rad Grenades
Troops: Henchmen - Warrior Acolytes X 3, Plasma Guns X 3, Razorback, DozerBlade, Searchlight, Psybolt
Troops: Henchmen - Rogue Psykers X 8, Warrior Acolytes X 2, Rhino, Dozerblade, Searchlight
Troops: Henchmen - Death Cult Assassins X 6, Crusaders X 3
FA: Inceptors X 10, Psybolt, Psycannon X 2, Daemon Hammer X 1
FA: Storm Raven, TWL Multi-Melta, TWL Lascannon
Heavy: Land Raider Redeemer, Psybolt, Multi-Melta
Heavy: Dreadnought, TWL Autocannon X 2, Psybolt

I might have goofed on writing out one thing or two - but that is basically what I played. I tried to make everything different and unique to better represent a pile of jerks running around the table top.

Each piece worked well and I think the only dead wait was the Psychotroke on the GM as it really isn't needed. It is a bit overkill at this time. I am also not liking Coteaz as people just hate on that model and I want to try and create something that makes me play a bit instead of just seeing how many 6's I roll to make you a sad panda. I will go through another build design again to see what fits - but this might be ok.

I am still really mentally pushing for my Fabius Bile/CSM list. I was talking about it with some other guys and it could work - it is just extremely expensive and a pain in the ass to play with at times. Still it is fun to beat up on people with and watch them get upset. CSM can't beat me!!! Hah. I could always go with Demons again too - which is another tempting option as well. 2000 points means I can retweak the list. I think the massed troops didn't work as well and think one fat blob of Plague Bearers to hold a home objective might be needed. I might also go away from Skulltaker but will see.

Paint list for the week

Me
Plastic Dudesmen - Drawn - need to build in photoshop and color
3 Characters for BOLS videos - 3 are drawn - need to color
Hordes Legion Boxed set from Adepticon - Built it all - need to prime and paint

Luis
10 Empire Spearmen - Done son!
1 Drummer guy - Done son!
2 more Mordhiem guys - Primed
1 Arbite - Primed
Another batch of Empire/mordhiem as well

Jens
10 Horrors of Tzeentch - Not primed!

Mike N
10 Orks - batch of 40 total - doing 10 at a time - Kromlech based! - in pieces

And who knows what else I might do - lots of things. I have to work on Saturday so if it isn't too busy I will be busting out some paints for sure then. Who knows what extra crap I might come up with. If people want some of the Hordes I am painting shoot me an email and we can work out a deal. I also have a Cryx boxed set painted and a Khador one painted.

And finally for those looking at starting a painting service let me give you some thoughts on what you should charge an hour.

I currently charge about $25.00 an hour. That is what a lot of other people charge and I keep it in that area to make sure painting the models is worth wile for myself. My time is important as I have a wife, life, and a real job. So I have to make the payment I make for gluing my hands, abusing paint brushes, and constantly buying expensive paints worth it.

I judge my prices based on what I can do in a 3 hours batch. Normally that is the perfect amount of time to finish a small project - ie troop squad, vehicle or two, big thing, etc. I normally do 10 infantry in 3 hours. Costs for most models at the base level for me start between 8-12 dollars depending on what is needed to get the job done. Sometimes it fluxates upwards and other times it goes down. It really depends on what you want. I don't lie when I say I love to paint orks and I usually drop the cost on them. I enjoy doing it - and the value you get from me is a lot more. Let's say you want me to paint super clean style - I don't like to do that so the cost would be higher etc. These are all things you have to think about whenever you start to paint for people.

If you are thinking about it - take how long it takes for you to complete a Marine unit. Try to keep about $25.00 an hour. Your paints, glue, equipment, etc that eats into the cost and leaving it at 25 should mean you have at least 15-18 dollars an hour for "salary", thus letting you do ok. So let's say you can do 10 models in 5 hours. That means you want to at least get $125.00 for the time you spent on the 10 models. That means you will most likely want to charge 12-13 dollars per model to ensure you keep that level of pay.

I have seen a lot of people under cut themselves and get into model pits as they try to finish up these models. They basically have started to dip into their profit and basically run any financial gain they might have gotten from taking the job. It happens all the time as people set flat payment for an army, instead of splitting it apart into chunks.

I will talk more about this later - just wanted to get some thoughts out. While we are here - how about some models? I am experimenting with my lighting - still have a long way to go. I'll get better pics soon.

Thursday - Took a bit of a break

Painting will start up soon. Just took a break for a bit. I will have more pics, art and other things as well. I took an art day last night and busted out a bunch of pieces that needed to get finished up. Will post them all probably on Saturday when I get a chance to catch up on some tv, help my good friend Nick move, and just try to get my brain back in the game. Between Adepticon, real life work disappointments, and well life - Mr. Goatboy is a bit low on fuel. So with that - let's list what I want to do by Monday.

Me.

Plastic Dudesmen #59 - Done! - This one was thought up by me in a random lightning bolt of inspiration. Will see how many terrible comments I get from it.

Ogre Mournfang - I got it built and primed - I want to do an Orge army and I am planning on slow building it - if Chaos doesn't come out soon it might become a faster build.

Bols Character Art - 3 Pictures - All Done last night! Crazy Red Praetorian, Caldera, and AdamHarry all done - Might do Rob's so will see.

Jens

6 Dark Eldar Warriors - Primed - a continuation from the last batch - will have a Bomber and some raiders as well and some beastmasters coming.

2nd Banner Piece - Done!

Rob

Art for banner ad - Done!

Luis P

More Mordhiem stuff - Primed a bunch of Empire guys will paint em up

There might be some other things depending on how I feel. It just has not been a great week for the Goat. Adepticon was great as can be with my mindset so it wasn't the plastic models. Real life can be a bitch. I will do a better write up of my games before long. I might go ahead and do that for Monday on Bols as it gives some insight to my game thoughts. I don't know what kind of chance I would have had in the top 16 but will go into that later on.

Currently thinking of the Alamo and the lists I want to bring up there. I brougth something odd for Thursday night games as a way to test some different avenues and see what sticks for me. From there I can hopefully make a decision.

Current Thursday Space Goats.

HQ: Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Saga of the Bear, Storm Shield, Powerfist, Wolf Tail Talisman, Fenris Wolves X 2

HQ: Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Saga of the Warrior Borne, Storm Shield, Frost Axe, Runic Armor, Fenris Wolves X 2

HQ: Wolf Priest, Saga of the Hunter

HQ: Rune Priest, Murderous Hurricane, JaWs

Elites: Wolf Guard X 3, Combi-Melta X 3, Powerfist X 3

Elites: Dreadnought, TWL Autocannon X 2

Elites: Dreadnought, TWL Autocannon X 2

Troops: Grey Hunters X 8, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Power Weapon, Mark of the Wolfen, Rhino, Dozerblade

Troops: Grey Hunters X 8, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Power Weapon, Mark of the Wolfen, Rhino, Dozerblade

Troops: Grey Hunters X 8, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Power Weapon, Mark of the Wolfen, Rhino, Dozerblade

FA: Land Speeder, Typhoon Missile Launcer

FA: Land Speeder, Typhoon Missile Launcer

FA: Fenris Wolves X 10

1999 on the point. No Long Fangs again. Just trying it out to see what bits I like.

I might also do a Henchmen Grey Knight nonsense. I keep wanting to do all Rats as this Rat Inquisition. I got one of the Vermynkin thingies from Mantic to test out a design with. He is pretty big so I don't know what I would use him as. Maybe the Grand Master? Splinter?

HQ: Grand Master, Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades

HQ: Coteaz

Elites: Purifiers X 10, Psycannon X 4, Halberds X 5, Hammer X 1

Elites: Tech Marine, Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades

Troops: Henchmen - Death Cult Assassins X 6, Crusaders X 3

Troops: Henchmen - Rogue Psykers X 8, Warrior Acolytes X 2, Rhino, Dozerblade, Search light

Troops: Henchmen - Warrior Acolytes X 5, Razorback, Assault Cannon, Psybolt, Dozerblade, Search Light

Troops: Henchmen - Warrior Acolytes X 5, Razorback, Assault Cannon, Psybolt, Dozerblade, Search Light

FA: Storm Raven, Multi-Melta, TWL Lascannon, Extra Armor

FA: Inceptors X 10, Psybolt, Psycannon X 2, Hammer

Heavy: Land Raider Redeemer, Multi-Melta, Psybolt

And almost only 1 of list - with the duplicated Warrior Acolyte squads. In fact I might drop one to figure something else out or just drop them to add some other nonsense to the list. The other idea was to use Kazimov to attach to some Termies to walk around and look menancing. I would have to make one - so the idea of an evil looking one is neat. I will have to play with the numbers to see if it works. It does hit a bit under 2000 plus it has a ton of neat looking options. But yeah - right now that is where my brain is at on list building. I still think 50 grey hunters plus tools is pretty rocking. With the push of 2000 I can add some nonsense and really amp up the army a bit. Will see if I like the Dreads in the list I test out tonight and if I think I might only need 40 guys. Goatboy out for the day!

I made it back from Adepticon! Woohoo!

I did a ton of bags - and didn't make the championship. But still it was a lot of fun. This post is a super bag one!

















I will go over my games on BOLS before long. I am just glad I took the day off of work after coming back. Up next is The Alamo in San Antonio and then a visit back to Rob's store for the yearly birthday and then Wargames con. I got some other stuff planned after that so will see. I will be posting my thought list for the Alamo before long as I build it out.

Goatboy - It's Sunday?

And I am at work. We are covering for a co worker who is going into Surgery so I am here this fine Sunday before Adepticon. I am kind of sad as I want to go see Cabin in the Woods but I might have to wait to get a chance to jump over to the theater while in Chicago and watch it. I guess it depends on how my games are going.

Quick thing - if you are going to Adepticon I will be drawing on bags and what not most likely during the trade nights and depending on if I don't make it to Day 2. I am playing Demons so I might have a nice and free Sunday. The first 500 get a free bag from Battlefoam and I am sure those poor naked bags need some artwork on it. So alright enough of that.

Today I want to start some talks into Paint commissioning. I read Brent's lovely blog post about it and it got my brain brewing on some of the questions I get about paint services and how to get into it, do it, and keep yourself sane with it. So with that in mind let's start.

Paint Services - Whys, Hows, and WTF's?

First of all as I am sure you know I provide a Paint Service for miniatures. The company is called Full of Monkey Paint Services and it is usually me and maybe a friend or two depending on the style needed and the scale of the project. Its a mid range paint company in that I specialize in getting decent Table Top quality work to you quickly with a tweak towards competitive play. When I do models for people I always think of it as my own model I don't get to play with - so I usually magnetize options and do as much as I can to make a decent, playable product. My style is different and either you love it or hate it but that is how I do things. My prices are decent and I try my best to kick as much ass for you as I can.

So with that in mind let's first ask why the hell would you want to become a painting service? I am sure everyone has different reasons for doing it. You could always have your local friends say your painting kicks ass or they want some of your minis and you think hell why not. You might look at doing the paint service to supplement your income or a way to have more money to blow on plastic crack. You could just really like to paint miniatures and think that making some money with miniature painting would be awesome. There are a lot of reasons to get into painting miniatures for money and I really just want you as a prespective paint machine to think about it before buying a domain and throwing your business out there.

So with your reasons for painting in mind you have to really think - what is my time worth. I do freelance art as well so I am always thinking of the hourly bottom line. No matter what you do this is a job so you should treat it as such. Getting paid under minimum wage is not worth your time. So when thinking about starting a paint service you have to at first think about these things.

a) The time it takes for you to complete work
b) The time it will take away from your life
c) How much all of that is worth to you.
d) Is it worth it to make a hobby a business.

These things are extremely important. If you don't go into this with a good idea of your time's worth then you will get screwed in the end. I have seen a lot of people "hire" people locally and watch as the local painter gets tired of doing the work.

You have to judge how long it takes you to complete a mini. Look I know we all want an army full of Golden Demon paintjobs but that is impractical. Hell when I jump into the hourly wage I think most people should charge then you will throw up a bit when you think how long does it take to finish a high class model. To give you an idea I usually take about 2-3 hours to complete a Tier 2 unit of 10 models. My orks usually take 3 hours to get 10 done with about 12 different shades of paint and just keeping the assembly line moving. Other types of units can take a bit longer but I usually look at completing 10 or so models in about 3 hours as my standard for billing and quoting an army. If it takes you 10 hours to paint one guy then you really shouldn't look at starting a paint servce.

The most important thing is that this is a job. If you have a day job think about how much time you spend working there. Now add more time working and you basically have very little free time. I am lucky in that my current job will have down time that I can double up when I work. This probably won't last forever so I am going to have to look at having some of "my" time taken up by painting. Lucky for me my wife works on hobby stuff so I can usually hang out, chat and paint minis while she is making pretty things. All work and no play makes you a crappy person so keep this in mind as you schedule and set up time to throw paint on minis. In fact I keep schedules of my paint time to ensure I keep up with projects and commissions. I showcases my OCD at times but it is one of the few ways to ensure you don't go bonkers while being surround by glue fumes and paint pots.

Look at how much its worth to you to do this? I charge basically $25.00 an hour. I do this for art work as well as miniature work. This covers my taxes and an other extra bits I might need to include. Some projects take less time while others are more of a pain in the ass. I am about to start having a group of guys do my building as I just feel it would help keep me from going insane with some of the build requests. I like to magnetize things as I am a player and being able to alleviate broken weapons is a great thing. It is these small things like figuring out a doable hourly rate that will help you out in the end. Also you need to figure out how long it takes you to work as well. If customers ask for certain things you charge for it. If they change up things while you are working you charge for it too. You are a business and no matter what if the customer is a friend he needs to respect your time commitment into this project. If not then just say no and refund.

I have a day job to help me as this painting service is designed to supplement as well as keep me from constantly buying new things to slap paint on. This helps me design my hourly wage as well as control some of the elements of time etc. I don't need to get a ton of work to keep myself or my family fed. I am not having to worry about the day to day bills as I got the covered initially. This "business" is as much a hobby as painting is to myself. I already have a freelance art mindset so I just look at this as a way to keep my brain busy.

So you have to ask yourself is it worth it to change your hobby into a business? A lot of the time it kills the hobby for yourself. I remember getting my first real fulltime art job. I was an animator on A Scanner Darkly and it was a great year of work. It did almost kill my desire to do any other artwork. I used to dream of the animation technique and I would walk up unable to think of anything else. I didn't really want to draw anything I wanted to do and just came in, punched the "card" and get to work on the animation. I finally found a way to break myself from the work and my own personal work so I could continue enjoy doing artwork. You have got to make sure this doesn't kill your hobby or else you will be regretting getting that domain and started work as a paint for hire creator.

I will talk more about this later as I just wanted to get some thoughts out on the page. I have been asked multiple times about it and I thought - let me bring some knowledge to the blog sphere. There is a ton of room for paint services and I am friends with a ton of them. If you have any questions comment, shoot me an email at goatboybols @ gmail.com and I will be more then happy to talk about this more.

Thursday??? - Yeah its Late.

I need to get my butt in gear on some projects. I did finish one last week - Dark Eldar and completed a smaller batch as well. From there I got an upcoming Counts as Demons - Skaven army I am currently working through the model build. I got the inspiriation after failing the initial test. I failed it - and then it came to me how to work on it. Will get it blogged up as I start to work on it. I think it will work really well and has one of those - Make Goatboy happy design aspects. Plus it is for a buddy of mine who likes to mess with me with the counts as space Skaven nonsense to my Goats hah.

So as you know I am taking Demons to Adepticon. I posted the "final list" I like and will go with that for the most part. The dogs were lack luster against Grey Knights due to lots of units have multiple - none Force Weapons (banner guys in Paladins and the 4 lovely psycannon holding assholes in Purifiers). That is why the Seekers are there and will see how it goes. Dark Eldar will be a pain and I will have to kill every venom I see. Blargh!

Oh yeah my paint list

Me.
Orge Test - Done today! I am thinking of Ogres for Fantasy - so will see.
Plastic Dudesmen - Drawn, small tweaks to finish
Shirt design for our Adepticon team - drawn, need to build and then see if we can get them printed in time or if I have to figure out an Iron on system.
2 Banner drawings for a client - One Done! - other needs to get worked on.
Display board for me - Built - need to paint and clean up.

John H
Final Space Wolves - Finished!

Luis P
Morehiem - 9 Figs - Done!
More Mordhiem probably - 10 Built!

Russel
Need to write out the quote and mini list.

I've got the Alamo to play after Adepticon. Depending on if we get Chaos before then I might play a weird GK list. All Henchmen all the time. Something different that isn't the normal paladin spam or other nonsense. I am still thinking about it - and as I read the GK book I just keep thinking - lord this crap is boring.

Maybe I will play my Word Bearers - Space Wolves list. Lots of bikes - dudes running around. It could be fun, different, and interesting. I will probably play that as I pulled out the models and looked at them again. They look decent, play well, and give me the advantage of people asking - what are those? Swiftclaws????

Or Hell I play Space Wolve Armageddon. I brought that for my Thursday game time.

2000pts

HQ: Canis, 2 Fenris Wolves
HQ: Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Saga of the Bear, Runic Armor, Storm Shield, Powerfist, Fenris Wolves X 2
HQ: Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Saga of the Warrior Borne, Storm Shield, Frost Axe, Fenris Wolves X 2
HQ: Wolf Priest, Saga of the Hunter
Elites: Iron Priest, Thunder Wolf, Wolf Tooth Talisman, CyberWolves X 4
Elites: WG X 3, Combi-Melta X 3, Powerfist X 3
Troops: Grey Hunters X 9, Meltagun, Mark of the Wolfen, Wolf Standard, Drop pod
Troops: Grey Hunters X 9, Meltagun, Mark of the Wolfen, Wolf Standard, Drop pod
Troops: Grey Hunters X 9, Meltagun, Mark of the Wolfen, Wolf Standard, Drop pod
Troops: Fenris Wolves X 10
FA: Land Speeder Typhoon
FA: Land Speeder Typhoon

1999 - Prince's favorite number.

Wolf Priest joins the dogs and the Wolf Lords join the dogs to make a happy merry band. It works because Thunder Wolves can only join Thunder Wolf Cavalry or Fenris Wolves. And since the IC are not joining each other it works and gives the unit Fearless and Stealth. fun times indeed.

No Long Fangs either! So that should be fun. I might change it to Rhinos but who the heck knows - trying Drop Pods first. Will see. I do love me the Dozer Blades cuz it is fun and I got some painted up that look good.

Ok some models - I took pictures last night!







Woo hoo - art will come later as I finish things. ARROOO!!!

Wow sorry I am late with this

Regular work has been busy. So I have been well - busy. I got one commission finished - the Dark Eldar army. I got some wolves to try and finish this weekend. I also got my Demons done. I need to do the display board as well - it is built but I am looking at trying to magnet it up. Woohoo!

So list of stuff to do.

Me.
Plastic Dudesmen - Done!
Design for Team Shirt for Adepticon - Done!
Build shirt design - Not Done :(
Drawing for another thingie for Adepticon - Done?

John H
Wolves - Blood Claws - Built and primed
Jump pack guys - Primed
Tweak colors - Need to do.

Luis P
12 More Mordhiem guys - Primed
More guys?

Ork Flyer - Need to finish one!

I saw a guy playing some Orks with 2 Weird boyz. It got me thinking - the Weird boy Melta power might be decent since it auto hits and gets melta at 18 inches so it isn't bad. Hell it is a thought.

Orks 1850 - Weird Boy Armageddon!

HQ. Weird Boy, Warphead
HQ: Weird Boy, Warphead
Elites: Lootas X 15
Elites: Lootas X 15
Elites: Meganobz X 8
Troops: Shoota Boyz X 30, Big Shootas X 3, Nob, Bosspole, Power Klaw
Troops: Shoota Boyz X 30, Big Shootas X 3, Nob, Bosspole, Power Klaw
Troops: Slugga/Choppa Boyz X 30, Nob, Bosspole, Power Klaw
Troops: Slugga/Choppa Boyz X 30, Nob, Bosspole, Power Klaw

1850pts

Weird boyz go with the Slugga/Choppa boyz and they move forward doing damage. It gives us the way to cover the entire board - it is annoying as they cover everything. Who knows if it will actually work. But it is an idea. Still I might make 2 Weird boyz. Hell it sounds fun for sure.

I have swapped out my Demon list a bit - dropped the dogs and changed them to Seekers. I think they will work better as I create both waves as mirrors of each other. I have icons on both sides and the same sort of set up.

HQ: Skulltaker, Juggernaut
HQ: Herald of Khorne, Blessing of the Blood God, Juggernaut, Fury of Khorne, Unholy Might
HQ: Herald of Tzeentch, Chariot, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch
HQ: Herald of Tzeentch, Chariot, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch
Elites: Juggernauts X 5, Musical Instrument, Fury of Khorne, Chaos Icon
Elites: Fiends of Slaanesh X 6, Unholy Might
Elites: Fiends of Slaanesh X 6, Unholy Might
Troops: Horrors of Tzeentch X 5, Changling, Bolt of Tzeentch
Troops: Horrors of Tzeentch X 5, Bolt of Tzeentch
Troops: Horrors of Tzeentch X 5, Bolt of Tzeentch
Troops: Horrors of Tzeentch X 5, Bolt of Tzeentch
Troops: Horrors of Tzeentch X 5, Bolt of Tzeentch
Troops: Horrors of Tzeentch X 5, Bolt of Tzeentch
FA: Seekers of Slaanesh X 10, Chaos Icon

So there you go - it is all painted! Will get a picture of it all sometime soon.

Alright - more thoughts coming - some art and other things.